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Science and technology history
Science and technology history
Science and technology history
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Technology has evolved in many ways in the human past, which has been suggested through the archaeological records and evidence. Some of the technologies that have evolved include the lithic tools, such as the cores, flakes and Acheulean hand-axe. There have been case studies done on Tasmanian tools, which suggest how their technology has evolved in the human past. The human past played a role in evolving these technologies through cultural transmission, genetic transmission, info-copying and many more. There have been several ways in which technology has evolved in the human past.
Archaeologists such as Jordan (2015, p. 1) suggest that “people tend not to invent such … technologies for themselves through personal trial and error”. This suggestion
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Rational copying refers to info-copying, which involves the “copying only the behavioral outcomes of another’s individual behaviour” (Lycett 2015, p. 393). This allows local enhancements to come into play, as individuals would observe other’s techniques in knapping, as well as producing the Acheulean hand-axe. The technology of the cores, flakes and hand-axes would have been produced and passed down through copying and observing other knappers skills and technique. By doing so, it allowed the individual to begin with the basic knowledge of the copying hominin’s skills in producing the technology. However, it was possible that these technologies could evolve from cores and flakes into hand-axes, as they would have been slightly changed to adapt to their surroundings and …show more content…
The older people’s knowledge of the technology, such as making the core and flakes would be ‘prestigious’ and ‘skilled’. They would have lived for much longer and thus have a better understanding of which materials to use to create these technologies. In addition, it was suggested that the apprentice was more likely to remember how to produce these technology, if they were told the person was the boss. They often learnt it through visual fixation, where they would often stare and observe the other’s
All of us have tools to make life easier. For example your cell phone is a tool that you use to communicate with. Paleolithic tools differed from Neolithic tools. The Paleolithic tool kit shown in document one was made for hunting.
In East Africa, archaeologists have unearthed bones and tools of human ancestors called hominids that go back about five million years ago. Australopithecus, known as “the southern ape”, were an example of hominid creatures whom were short, hairy, and limited in intelligence. They walked upright, had some ability to communicate verbally, and could travel over long distances to obtain particular stone to fashion tools. These tools included choppers, scrapers, and more for food preparations. About one million years later, a new species of hominids that belong to the genus Homo evolved called Homo erectus. Homo erectus possessed a larger brain than the australopithecines and fashioned more advanced tools such as cleavers and handaxes, which were useful in hunting and
The Oriental Institute featured an exhibit focused on the development of ancient Middle East Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East 1919–20 January 12 - August 29, 2010. And this was the exhibit I found most intriguing and most i...
The Romans invented and revolutionised many innovations and technologies. Although, of all of these innovations and technologies, only one has survived unchanged for over 2000 years. Hydraulic cement-based concrete is certainly the most significant ancient Roman innovation that has come to be. Ancient Roman concrete was significant as it was cheap, and allowed the ancient world to build greater infrastructure. This in turn vitally helped revolutionise trade and many regions’ economy. Concrete also allowed long-lasting and important health systems, as well as security systems to be put into place for ancient Rome, revolutionising both health and safety across the ancient world. On top of this, to prove the significance of concrete, it is still
Hart-Davis, Adam. "BBC - History - Ancient History in Depth: Discovering Roman Technology." BBC - Homepage. 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. .
The author describes how ingenuity and technology changed social organization in early civilizations. Why was this “one of the major turning points in the social history of humankind?” How does this alteration of social structure reflect our modern societies? Give specific examples from your own culture to demonstrate how this change persists today.
"Upper Paleolithic Tool Technologies." Upper Paleolithic Tool Technologies. The Regents of The University of California, 22 July 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
...alistic tools and use them in modern scenes. From the Industrial Revolution to today, we can observe the differences and similarities in lifestyles of the past to make the best decisions for our country for today and in the future.
It was my first year in middle school. It wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but I had finally started to develop a sense of connection to the people and things around me. I was learning about my interests (pizza and dodge ball) and my disinterests (video games and spinach soup). During these years, I experimented with scrap making it my purpose to create something out of nothing. I would bend, cut, screw, weld, and much of the time end up hurting myself trying to make a vision into a reality. Surprisingly, back in 10,000 BC cavemen were doing very similar things. The cave man's first inventions included the hunting club and the sharpened-stone. These tools became the all-purpose skinning and killing survival tools of their time. The sharpened stone later became the first writing instrument. Cavemen scratched drawings representing events in daily life such as the planting of crops or hunting victories they experienced. The history of writing instruments by which humans have recorded and conveyed thoughts, feelings and grocery lists, is the history of civilization itself. This is how we know the story of us, by the drawings, signs and words we have recorded. It is without doubt that these utensils have evolved into being integral parts of our lives, and furthermore, have allowed us to grow smarter and more productive as people. In this paper, I will discuss the extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal of a common consumer item; the Ticonderoga number two pencil.
The emergence of modern cognition has been fundamental in separating early humans from our primate predecessors but archaeology and anthropology has provided diverse arguments the precise moment this came to be. There have been separate claims that the modern mind could have come to be when early humans created the first stone tools, the first personal ornamentation or the first artworks. In a deeper analysis it become clearer that the first complex thought came about not from any of those single events but rather a combination of the first two scenarios mentioned as the third scenario supports the claim. The human spark cannot be identified by the development of technology alone but rather by the gradual change that occurs between the innovations of stone tools and personal ornamentation known as the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Period.
Despite not having an established society or economy, man in the Paleolithic Age had increasing technology. Their weapons and tools were made of wood and stone, and they had manifested the ability to control fire. The Paleolithic Age also berthed language and thus established the first historical backgrounds of modern man. Paleolithic art gives the background for the culture of the time. Depicting a society classed only by sex: Men hunted, made weaponry and tools, and fought other nomadic bands; Women gathered, made clothing, and bore children.
One of the most significant inventions was introduced during the Neolithic period. It was the shift from hunting animals and gathering plants to the production of food. People no longer had to travel long distances to search for water and food because they learned how to grow
Leakey at Olduvai Gorge dating back to about two million years ago. They originally thought that these tools were made by the Australopithecus, but later determined that they were made by the Homo Habilis . The first tools found were classified as lower paleolithic tools. These tools belong to the Oldowan tool tradition. These tools which were opportunist in nature were characterized by an all-purpose generalized chopping tool. These were produced by removing a few flakes from a stone either by using another stone as a hammer or by striking a pebble against a large rock. Manufacturing tools this way is called the percussion method. Many of these tools were made out of quartz or lava; which were not the most common st...
This era of early tool development took place during the Lower Paleolithic, and was known as Oldowan tool tradition. Anthropologists suspect that a feedback loop between brain size, behavior, and language began to develop during the time of Homo habilis, due to a proposed correlation between the gradual increase in brain complexity and size as well as the development of more complex cultural aspects of their society, such as the various tools developed during the era of the species habilis. The arrival of Homo erectus, about 2 million years ago, marked another noteworthy progression of biological and cultural adaption, as well as further evidence supporting the feedback loop
The cultural innovations analyses presented here illustrate the presence of cumulative cultural evolution in the upper Paleolithic and portray how a steady rate of change continuous with that seen in later human history. This should serve to encourage interests in the internal process of evolution that may tend to produce a smooth curve, including the possible the autocatalytic effects of the increasing technological